How Dhoni's petition in Madras High Court sent IPS officer to jail

An IPS officer named Sampath Kumar has been sentenced to 15 days in jail by the Madras High Court on Friday for contempt of court. This action was taken after former India cricket team captain MS Dhoni filed a petition accusing IPS officer Kumar of making disrespectful statements against the judiciary while responding to a defamation suit related to his remarks about an alleged (Indian Premier League) IPL betting scam.

The division bench of Justices S S Sundar and Sunder Mohan stated that the sentence would be suspended for 30 days, allowing the police officer to appeal the ruling.

In his written response on December 17, 2021, to Dhoni's defamation suit, Sampath Kumar made insinuations against the Supreme Court. Dhoni highlighted these statements in his contempt plea.


According to Dhoni's plea, Sampath Kumar stated that the Supreme Court had diverted its attention from the rule of law and had kept the deposition of the Justice Mudgal Committee, which was formed to investigate match-fixing allegations in 2013, sealed for reasons that he failed to understand.

Furthermore, Sampath Kumar alleged that the Supreme Court had a motive for not providing the sealed cover to CBI officer Vivek Priyandarshini for investigation, as mentioned in the petition.

Dhoni's plea also accuses Sampath Kumar of maligning and disrespecting the high court by making false allegations against designated senior counsels of the court, including the office of the advocate general of Tamil Nadu. Allowing the plea, the bench found Sampath Kumar guilty of the offence of contempt of court.